Biblical Revivals and Awakenings
So far in our series we’ve looked at thirty-four examples of revival from the Old Testament. You can read the series in four free eBooks that we’ve linked to at the end of this study. Understanding how God worked with His people in the Old Testament will help you understand what He did centuries later in the New Testament.
While the Old Testament covers a period of thousands of years (Adam to Nehemiah and Malachi), the New Testament covers about a hundred years of history (birth of Jesus to death of the Apostle John). However, don’t let that fool you. What God did in the New Testament period was the culmination of everything we read about in the Old Testament. The Old points to the New, while the New points back to the Old. This is God’s Story.
The Messenger
The last prophet of the Old Testament was Malachi. He prophesied to Judah toward the end of the 5th century BC. Here is one that connects directly to events in the New Testament –
“Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,’ Says the Lord of hosts.” Malachi 3:1
God said He would send “My messenger” to prepare the “before Me.” That meant someone would precede God’s coming to His people and prepare the way for Him. “And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming.”
What we see in Malachi’s prophesy are two messengers. One messenger will prepare the way for the other Messenger, who is identified as “the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight.” Notice also that the messenger was going to prepare the way before God (“Me”). And the Lord who the people sought would “suddenly come to His temple.”
These words of Malachi the prophet at the end of the 5th century BC were fulfilled in the early part of the 1st century AD, more than 400 years later.
“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the Prophets: ‘Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, Who will prepare Your way before You.’ ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.'” Mark 1:1-3
Notice that the author of the Gospel of Mark references “As it is written in the Prophets.” Mark quoted from Malachi 3 and Isaiah 40 –
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God.” Isaiah 40:3
Isaiah pronounced this prophecy during the reign of King Hezekiah of Judah. That would be a little more than 700 years before the events mentioned in Mark 1. God gave both prophecies for the purpose of comforting His people. The Assyrians had destroyed the Northern Kingdom of Israel and Judah would soon suffer greatly at the hands of the Babylonians. While that was part of God’s punishment for His people’s disobedience, He wanted them to know that He would forgive His people and would come for them.
Both prophets spoke of someone preparing the way for Him. Isaiah said the individual would be a voice crying in the wilderness. Malachi said the one preparing the way would bring a message to God’s people.
John the Baptist
“John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. Then all the land of Judea, and those from Jerusalem, went out to him and were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.” Mark 1:5-6
“In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!’ For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying: ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.'” Matthew 3:1-3
“Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying: ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight. Every valley shall be filled And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough ways smooth; And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'” Luke 3:1-6
Jesus Christ also confirmed that John the Baptist was the “messenger” God had promised to send to Judah to “prepare” the way of the Lord –
“When the messengers of John had departed, He began to speak to the multitudes concerning John: ‘What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Indeed those who are gorgeously appareled and live in luxury are in kings’ courts. But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written: ‘Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, Who will prepare Your way before You.’ For I say to you, among those born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.'” Luke 7:24-28
Remember the words of Malachi? “And he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,’ Says the Lord of hosts.” John the Baptist, the messenger, came to prepare the way before God, the Lord of hosts. The Messenger of the covenant would come suddenly to His Temple. Who was the Messenger of the covenant? Jesus the Christ. When did Jesus come suddenly to His Temple?
“Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. So when they saw Him, they were amazed; and His mother said to Him, ‘Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.’ And He said to them, ‘Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?’ But they did not understand the statement which He spoke to them.” Luke 2:46-50
This is the first mention in the New Testament that Jesus came to His Temple. Could that be what Malachi was referencing? Or might it be much later when Jesus suddenly comes to His Temple after the Great Tribulation? We don’t know for sure, but we do know that Jesus Christ is the Messenger of the covenant. What ‘covenant’?
Messenger of the Covenant
“And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.” Luke 22:19-20
The New Covenant is in His blood, “which was shed for you.” Mark 14:24 says, ‘This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many.” Matthew 26:28 says, “For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”
In the context of the Lord’s Supper, Paul wrote – “In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me” (1 Corinthians 11:25). Paul also mentioned the “new covenant” in another letter to the Corinthian church – “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:5-6).
The author of the Book of Hebrews also shed important light on the “new covenant” that Jesus brought to His people –
“For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. Because finding fault with them, He says: ‘Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.’ In that He says, ‘A new covenant,’ He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.” Hebrews 8:7-13
“For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives. Therefore not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood. For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, ‘This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you.’ Then likewise he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.” Hebrews 9:13-22
“But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.” Hebrews 12:22-24
Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, is the Messenger of the covenant prophesied by Malachi. Jesus was and is the hope and comfort of Israel.
“Comfort, yes, comfort My people!’ Says your God. ‘Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her, That her warfare is ended, That her iniquity is pardoned; For she has received from the Lord’s hand Double for all her sins.’ The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough places smooth; The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, And all flesh shall see it together; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.'” Isaiah 40:1-5
Next Time
Messengers bring messages, so what message did John the Baptist deliver? God sent Him to prepare the way, but how and what did it have to do with revival? We’ll look at that in the next part of our special series, Revival – To Live Again.
eBooks
You can download a free eBook of the first six parts of this series to share with family and friends. Please click here for the PDF eBook.
Here is the eBook for the parts seven through twelve of this series. Please click here for the PDF eBook.
Here is the eBook for the parts thirteen through sixteen of this series. Please click here for the PDF eBook.
Here is the eBook for the parts seventeen through twenty-one of this series. Please click here for the PDF eBook.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
© Faith and Self Defense, 2026
Faith & Self Defense 